Bargaining information for OPSEU members at the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation
Those poor managers! MPAC just wants to be ‘fair’
On Friday, April 16 the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) held a hearing to deal with OPSEU’s application alleging that MPAC was “bargaining in bad faith” over their decision to retract their wage offer for the first two years of the next contract.
While a written decision from the OLRB has not yet been released, Vice-Chair Ian Anderson did give an oral decision to the parties. Anderson said “For reasons to follow, the Board is of the view that the Employer"s revocation of the offer does not constitute a breach of S.17 of the Ontario Labour Relations Act. It should be noted that we expect the parties to resume negotiations forthwith. Nothing in this decision should be construed as permitting MPAC to refuse to negotiate about increases in compensation for the first two years of any new collective agreement.”
While this was not a win for the union, it was encouraging that the Vice-Chair did state that there was nothing in the proposed legislation that prevented MPAC from bargaining improvements during the “freeze” that is being imposed by the Ontario government.
MPAC readily admitted at the hearing that their decision to claw back their offers on wages and benefits was completely voluntary. Their reasons should put a little lump in your throat.
See, MPAC feels it just isn’t “fair” for their managers to endure a wage freeze while bargaining unit employees get a raise. It would also be a terrible blow to manager morale. Worst of all, by giving unionized employees a raise, this would decrease the gap between the pay rates of bargaining unit members and their managers. “We are acting in our own self-interest” they said.
Your bargaining team felt just awful at these revelations. Then…we remembered a few things.
First, MPAC is imposing this “freeze” all on their own. It seems they have a wee bit of a deficit to deal with. This is shocking, when you consider all the money they have flushed down the commode on consultants, hotels and travel.
Second, those poor managers still get performance bonuses, which they get on the backs of the work done by unionized members. And many of them are sitting pretty on the Sunshine List, averaging yearly increases over the past few years of 4.7 per cent. It would be dreadful if the gap THAT created gets narrowed a bit. At MPAC, “fair” is obviously a one-way street.
Suddenly, we don’t feel so bad anymore. As for any morale issues, we have a message for our managers: Welcome to our world.
Your team is still in discussions with the employer on proposed dates for mediation and setting a new strike deadline. We will keep you posted!
Keep in touch!
To ensure a speedy response to your questions, your leadership team has divided up all MPAC offices in the province. If you have a question or a comment, please contact the bargaining team member responsible for your office. Contact us by e-mail at work or at home, as follows:
Ivan Herrington, Chair: Barrie, Kitchener,
London, Milner (CCC, CPF, LPU),
Mississauga, Trenton.
E-mail: [email protected] ; [email protected]
Gary Cooper: Brantford, Chatham, Goderich, Hamilton, Owen Sound, Sarnia, Windsor.
Email: [email protected] ; [email protected]
Everett Kelly: Oshawa, Peterborough,
Pickering, Richmond Hill, Toronto.
E-mail: [email protected] ; [email protected]
David Lynch: Bracebridge, Dryden, Fort
Frances, Kenora, North Bay, Ottawa, Parry
Sound, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Timmins.
E-mail: [email protected] ; [email protected]
Bill Robertson: Bancroft, Brockville, Cornwall, Kingston, Pembroke.
E-mail: [email protected] ; [email protected]
Rob Field, OPSEU Staff Negotiator
E-mail: [email protected]
ImpacT At the Table is produced by the bargaining team for the Property Assessment Division of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union and authorized for distribution by Warren (Smokey) Thomas, president.
